Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted much attention, due to their extraordinary mechanical properties and their unique electronic properties. A CNT is topologically equivalent to a two-dimensional graphite sheet rolled into a cylinder, with a cylinder diameter as small as 0.7 nanometers (nm) and with a cylinder length up to several microns (μm). A CNT can be single walled (SW) or multiple walled (MW) and can also be fabricated as a nanofiber or other CNT structure. A CNT can be characterized by its chiral vector components (n,m), which helps determine tube diameter, electronic properties and other properties. Depending upon the chirality (n-m divisible by 3 or otherwise), a CNT can be conducting (metal-like) or semiconducting.
CNTs are being studied for applications in a high strength/low weight composites, membranes, mechanical filters, body armor, space suits, electronics, nano-electro-mechanical systems, heat exchange systems, radiators, chemical sensors, physical sensors, actuators, data storage, computers and other applications. In some of these applications, chemical functionalization (addition of one or more specified chemical groups to a basic structure) may be necessary to alter the CNT properties for particular applications. For example, functionalization of the CNT tip or the side walls with suitable probe molecules can provide chemical sensors that recognize certain target species and ignore all others. Development of functional composites may require functionalization of a collection of CNTs to allow the tubes to be dispersed more easily in a host matrix.
An ideal functionalization process should be clean, produce relatively little residue for disposal, should be efficient, selective, and reasonably fast, should be scalable to large scale production, should not require use of complex apparatus to produce the target species or attach the species to the CNTs, and should not require complex chemical processing.
The CNT functionalization processes reported in the literature use wet chemical procedures and work with liquids or vapors, to which the CNTs are exposed. An example is use of hot flowing fluorine to attach fluorine atoms to CNTs, as reported by E. T. Michelson et al in Chem. Phys. Lett. vol 296 (1998) 188. Large quantities of wet chemicals are often required, with most of the chemicals becoming residues that must be disposed of under hazardous substance guidelines. Recycling of the chemicals used is seldom an option.
What is needed is a CNT functionalization process that is “dry”, produces relatively little residue for clean-up, is flexible enough to be used for large numbers of chemical functional groups, is reasonably selective, is scalable, and does not require use of complex apparatus or complex processing to achieve functionalization of a collection of CNTs.